The official Overwatch account went complete internet meme today, and honestly?? Internet had so many Opinions. Blizzard just dropped this tweet which read “winton… win ton… win. 🏆🦍”, after which players were told, “Drop a ‘Winton’ for good luck in your next Stadium matches!” Prime internet culture, but random at the same time.
Something about a game account posting this kind of thing is akin to asking for just utter chaos in the replies. Well, chaos they did receive. Players were not content with just following through on the ‘Winton’ comment. They proceeded to throw in every complaint, request, and random unrelated thought they’ve been bottling up for months. It might just have been an opening of the floodgates to the consciousness of the Overwatch community, and it got messy real quick.
Firstly, the actual “Winton” thing. For those with just a smidgen of knowledge around Overwatch lore, Winston is the gorilla scientist genius tank hero. For quite some time now, players have been calling him “Winton” as a joke, and Blizzard is now officially acknowledging it. Which is great! But immediately afterward, the demand for a Winton skin began. @SydneyStar14 straight-up said, “make winton plushie skin pls,” and @NanoLeon3000 added, “U know what would be cool… a Winton skin for Winston.” Which, well, yeah, I’d say that would be pretty dope, definitely!
Then, barely moments after, it escalated into a full embolism of begging for just about anything else they can think of. The Persona collab that’s been in rumor-mill forever? Multiple people down in those comments were demanding news on it. @S0verN literally shouted, “PERSONA COLLAB NEWS WHEN!!!” while @Cobaaaaaalt replied with, “Can we drop a ‘persona’ for collab news?” So it’s clear that everyone’s still waiting on that announcement indeed.
And there were… less pleasant replies after that one. Oh man. @Blind_Kova went off raging about, “The game is a fucking disgrace, game after game. Smurfs have destroyed the game, matchmaking is broken, and there are leavers and cheaters in every game.” Then concluded with, “I will never play a Blizzard game again, ever. It’s a fucking disgrace.” Ok, that’s rough, but maybe they’ve had a bad run in matches lately. I dunno.
Then came the technical complaints. “Fix the leave with group bug. It keeps leaving without group,” said @Emilioelcomelon. Yeah, that does sound annoyingly legit. And then @ryzefrags was unhappy about Winston gameplay: “no i dislike winton rn ruining my games bro just jumps everywhere like stay still” which is funny because that’s literally how you play Winston? He’s a jumping gorilla?
And then the merch people again, with @Shrek5onBluRay pleading, “PLEASE rerelease the plushie im on my knees 😭😭” and @shoben_ssb saying, “Don’t get me excited I thought you were rereleasing the plush :(” So apparently, there’s a super highly sought-after Winston plushie that everyone wants? Did not even know about that.
Other ones were just confused, like @PurpleScales_, who said, “Bro the N made me think we’re finally getting a netflix show about winton,” which, like… That would be incredible, actually? An animated Overwatch show focusing on Winston? I’m in.
Just in case there were random requests like @gwsyonce asking, “will winton bring back the fearless bundle,” and @rockisinfinite demanding they “remove draft completely— thank you,” which is specific. @patgames just said “remove brasil server,” which is. A choice.
The probably funniest had to be @OWAnonymous_’s: “@PlayOverwatch schizoposting on the main now are we?” Because yes, that is exactly how it felt. Official game account just posting meme nonsense and unleashing the entire community’s pent-up demands all at once.
Wild is how this one silly tweet turned into a dump for just about everything the Overwatch community has been thinking about. Skin requests, collab demands, technical complaints, merch begging… It’s like Blizzard accidentally just created a suggestion box, and everyone immediately flooded it with the most pressing thoughts on anything gaming-related.
Also, it should be noted: @ComptePoubOW just said “Nobody’s playing Stadium, bro.” which may be true? Stadium mode might not be the most welcomed right now if they’re out here demanding people to play it with meme tweets.
Ultimately, though, it is always curious to watch how these game accounts attempt to engage with their communities with memes and inside jokes. Sometimes it’s done really well, but most times it backfires spectacularly as it becomes an avenue for people to vent all their grievances. This was definitely a case of the latter- that one simple “Winton” tweet became the primary outlet for just about every single complaint and request the community has been holding onto.
Maybe Blizzard will even listen to some of these? The Winton skin is honestly a no-brainer. And the Persona collab news? That’d be nice to get one day too. But for now, they’re probably just going to keep memeing their way out of this. That’s life as we know it in the Overwatch community for now.
By the way, if you plan on playing Stadium matches this weekend, don’t forget to say “Winton” for good luck. Whether it actually works or not… well, that’s up to the gaming gods, I guess.
